Crime & Clues

Abstract

Homer's Iliad makes mention of the legendary Trojan War. During the time of this war, the citizens of Troy were deceived into accepting a wooden horse from a Greek spy. The people of Troy were told that by accepting this gift, they would become invincible. However, contained within the wooden horse was a group of Greek soldiers. These soldiers waited until nightfall and at that point, demolished the city and victimized the citizens of Troy.

Today, there exists a new breed of Trojan horse. This new kind of Trojan is wreaking havoc on the netizens of cyberspace. The Trojan horse programs on the Internet today often have hidden agendas. On the outside, these programs may look appealing, but their true intentions are disguised to the average individual.

This paper will discuss the emergence of Trojan horse programs onto the Internet. A distinction between a computer virus and a Trojan horse will be made. This paper will also examine the nature of such programs. Methods of infection and prevention will be analyzed in detail. Furthermore, specific examples of known computer attacks where Trojan horses were utilized will be discussed. Finally, several conclusions will be drawn with respect to Trojan horses and the role they play / will play, with respect to the online world.

What to do When a Virus is Suspected On a Computer Network

Abstract

This paper, presented in the form of sample guidelines/procedures, will express in much detail the steps, techniques and methods of defense utilized/implemented in the detection, investigation and tracing of a suspected computer virus. Proposed courses of action will be discussed. The effectiveness of these actions, as well as the use and effectiveness of established mechanisms of defense will be evaluated.

Fried & Fried Securities, in reality, a fictitious privately owned corporation, will serve as a model of a real life company. It will be assumed that Fried & Fried Securities will be operating on IBM compatible, Pentium/Celeron® class systems, designed by a reputable national computer manufacturer. The LAN (Local Area Network) will be running on Microsoft Windows 2000, under the authority and supervision of a System Administrator. Each system tied to the network, will be loaded with software necessary to run a securities brokerage house. Privilege and security levels of access will be determined and configured by the System Administrator. Furthermore, each system will have access to the Internet. E-mail will be available for each computer user in the corporation. This e-mail will be filtered using e-mail scanning software installed on the network's mail server. Moreover, a regularly updated anti-virus software package supplied by the manufacturer of the computer systems, and maintained by the System Administrator will be loaded onto each computed owned by or housed on the premises of Fried & Fried Securities.